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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24479755">in shadows cast</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/pseuds/epsiloneridani'>epsiloneridani</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-War</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:14:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24479755</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/pseuds/epsiloneridani</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He's been both soldier and spy, losing himself to a tangled web of shadows and blades.</p>
<p>The war ends.</p>
<p>Quinlan Vos learns how to come home.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>No Romantic Relationship(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Quinlan Vos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>195</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>in shadows cast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm <a href="https://jate-kara.tumblr.com/">@jate-kara</a> over on tumblr!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It feels wrong to call it home.</p>
<p>“Welcome back,” Mace Windu says with a gentle smile. Quinlan makes himself nod. The sun falls across the Council chamber in soft golden rays, welcoming in its warmth. He wants to close his eyes – wants to sit and be still for a while and breathe.</p>
<p>The Temple is supposed to be a place of peace. He reaches out and his touch brushes straight through. It flows over and around him, a flood he can sense and see but never feel. There’s a burning ache between his ribs.</p>
<p>He’s been gone too long.</p>
<p>By the time the Council is satisfied with his report, the sun has long since sunk below the Coruscant horizon. The city lights twinkle and glow as he bows and takes his leave. The brown cloak around his shoulders is heavy and unfamiliar and too soft, so unlike the dark leather armor he’s been living in for the last two and a half years.</p>
<p>Quinlan rolls his shoulders uncomfortably. He could just tug the thing off and toss it in a corner. It seems to work well enough for Kenobi.</p>
<p>No. At least if he’s wearing it, he looks like a Jedi.</p>
<p>He roams the halls aimlessly, running a hand along the wall as he walks. Each touch gives him a glimpse of a ghost: memories long gone. A youngling, giggling as they chase their friend down the corridor: their arm brushes too close. Jocasta Nu, leaning against it for a long beat as she reviews something on her datapad. Plo Koon, pressing his clone commander’s hand to the wall and whispering of all the life set in the stones.</p>
<p>Faces and names. Laughter and grace.</p>
<p>The war is over. Quinlan’s heart turns in his chest. He stops. His hand trembles.</p>
<p>The war is over.</p>
<p>This late, the Room of a Thousand Fountains is empty. Quinlan wanders its winding paths and scuffs his boot against the stone just to hear the scrape. He’s spent so long being silent, creeping through the shadows. It’s a strange kind of relief to know he can still be obnoxious if he wants to.</p>
<p>Quinlan stoops over and scoops up a handful of rocks, then draws his arm back and hurls them, one by one, into the nearest pool. The water ripples and splashes; in the silence, it’s a thunderous crash.</p>
<p>There’s a rustling in the distance.</p>
<p>Footsteps.</p>
<p>For a second, he considers shrouding his Force signature and spiriting away. A surge of something too close to fear shoots through him. For the Sith, silence means solitude means safe. Break it, and invite death.</p>
<p>But this isn’t a Sith sanctuary.</p>
<p>Quinlan freezes.</p>
<p>“Some people are trying to meditate, Vos.”</p>
<p>Quinlan starts. He wants to stagger for the force of his relief. “Hey, Kenobi,” he says, giving his best carefree grin. It feels so much harder than it should. “What’s goin’ on?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan is thinner than he remembers him; his jaw is sharper. Dimly, Quinlan realizes it’s been years since the Council set them on Ziro’s trail. It feels like decades.</p>
<p>“Nothing, no thanks to you,” Obi-Wan says tiredly, dragging a hand through his hair. It’s ragged, uncoiffed. There’s a smudge of dirt on his cheek. His robes are singed and blackened.</p>
<p>Quinlan makes a face. “You look worse for wear.”</p>
<p>“And you look very alive for a dead man.”</p>
<p>Right. That. “Sorry,” Quinlan says. “They said you weren’t at the Council meeting because you were finishing up the last battle.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan gathers his cloak more closely about his shoulders. “I was,” he says. “I’ve only been on Coruscant for an hour. My own debriefing is in the morning.”</p>
<p>Debriefing about what? The words die on his lips. There’s a dusting of grey at Obi-Wan’s temples. He’s too young for that. Too much stress. Hell of a long war. “Oh,” Quinlan says instead. “Okay.”</p>
<p>“They told me you were back when I was still en route to Coruscant,” Obi-Wan says. His voice is steady and even, but it holds a note of bitterness. “So. Not dead or fallen to the dark then.”</p>
<p>“No,” Quinlan says. “Not permanently, anyway.”</p>
<p>“What a relief.”</p>
<p>Quinlan bites his lip. There’s a moment of stillness between them, a somber ache that squeezes his chest as surely as any scream. “I’m sorry,” he blurts. “I thought they’d tell you.”</p>
<p>“As a member of the Council,” Obi-Wan says coolly, “so did I.”</p>
<p>Quinlan winces. “I’m sorry,” he repeats. “I didn’t know.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan blows out a long breath, then presses his eyes closed and massages his temples. “It’s not your fault, Quin,” he says quietly. “I don’t blame you. I just…”</p>
<p>There’s a fire like hope in his chest, suddenly. “I missed you too,” Quinlan says. His voice cracks. He clears his throat and blinks – blinks. “It’s been a while, huh?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan’s eyes take on a silver sheen. “Yes,” he says. “It has.”</p>
<p>Quinlan shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Obi-Wan crosses the space between them in a few graceful steps and takes hold of his shoulders. He studies Quinlan’s face for a long moment, then gently pulls him into his arms.</p>
<p>“It’s been too long, my friend,” Obi-Wan murmurs, a hoarse voice against Quinlan’s shoulder. “I’m glad to see you home safe.”</p>
<p>Quinlan coughs a wet laugh. “Doesn’t feel much like home,” he says. “It’s too quiet.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan sighs. “You always were dramatic.”</p>
<p>“I’m not kidding.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan’s hand cradles the back of his head – keeps him close. A tremor runs through his frame. “I know what you mean,” he whispers.</p>
<p>No blaster bolts. No bombs. No mortal peril. The Temple is nothing like the battlefield.</p>
<p>There’s too much space to think.</p>
<p>“I don’t feel right, being here,” Quinlan says. Calling himself a Jedi. Standing in a sanctuary of the light as a disciple of the dark. He’s an intruder: an infiltrator. He remembers that dread power, coiled in his chest. All at once, he wants to confess, wants to say <em>I gave in, I fell</em>, but the words stick in his throat. Maybe it’s shame.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s that burning ache.</p>
<p>“I know,” Obi-Wan says, like he’s read Quinlan’s mind. “In a way, we all did.”</p>
<p>Quinlan doesn’t have the power to ask what that means. Jedi. Sith. Order. War.</p>
<p>He just wants to be still for a while.</p>
<p>“It’s really good to see you again, Obi-Wan,” Quinlan whispers. “I mean that.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan’s arms tremble. Quinlan tightens his hold.</p>
<p>Here, at least, feels like home.</p>
<p>---</p>
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